Motor Development and Motor Learning
Motor Development and Motor Learning
This domain tests how movement changes across the lifespan and how learners acquire and refine skills. Expect questions on fundamental motor patterns, perceptual-motor development, practice design, feedback, and transfer.
Core rules
- Locomotor skills travel (walk, run, hop, skip); nonlocomotor skills stabilize or move the body in place (bend, twist, balance); manipulative skills involve objects (throw, catch, strike).
- Fitts and Posner stages: cognitive (conscious, error-prone), associative (refining, fewer errors), autonomous (automatic, adaptable).
- Feedback: intrinsic comes from the performer; extrinsic is augmented. Knowledge of results describes outcome; knowledge of performance describes movement quality.
- Practice: massed vs distributed, blocked vs random, part vs whole, constant vs variable. Random and variable practice often depress immediate performance but improve retention and transfer.
Worked example
A third grader cannot catch a beanbag. The teacher starts with a large, soft object, self-tossing, and the cue “watch, reach, squeeze.” This fits the cognitive stage: simplify the task, reduce fear, and give short external cues. As success reaches about 8 of 10 trials, the teacher adds partner tosses and varied distances. That is progression from blocked to variable practice, with knowledge of performance (“reach early”) rather than only praise.
Traps
Do not confuse maturation with practice; both interact. Do not call all extrinsic feedback knowledge of results. Random practice may look worse in class but is often better for retention. Match cues and equipment to developmental level, not grade level alone.